Special Audit into Govt loans yet to be carried

Accra, Nov. 14, GNA - A special audit required under the Audit Service Act to be undertaken into the operations of beneficiaries of Government loans and guarantees commodity aid are yet to be carried out, Mr Samuel Sallas-Mensah, Chairman of the Public Accounts Committee (PAC) of Parliament said on Wednesday.

The audit has not been done at least for the last two years. Also, the Payroll Audit has also not been extended to Basic Schools, and the management of the Capitation Grant is yet to receive attention.

In a statement in Parliament in Accra, Mr Sallas-Mensah suggest to President John Agyekum Kufuor to recommend to Parliament to make a minimal revision of the estimates that would be given to the Audit Service in the yet to be read 2008 Budget to better equip the Service to perform its constitutional mandate.

"I wish to appeal to the President to recommend to Parliament the 2008 Annual Estimates of the Audit service in accordance with Section 27 of the Audit Service Act, 2000 (Act 584) with a minimal revision to enable it be one of the leading supreme Audit Institutions in the world, delivering professional excellent, and const effective auditing service by the year 2010," Mr Sallas-Mensah said.

Mr Sallas-Mensah, who is also the MP for Upper West Akyem, called for the provision of enough and modern equipment and logistics, steps to enhance the capacity of staff and better working conditions to retain staff, who had benefited from EU sponsored training programmes. "Seven of the staff trained in Performance Audit, IT Audit and Enhance Financial Audit have been appointed as trainers in African Sub Region of INTOSAI.

"With the current low salaries in the Audit service the likelihood of losing trained staff to local and international organisations is therefore very high," Mr Sallas-Mensah said.

The PAC Chairman said Procurement Audit, required under the Public Procurement Act 2003 was yet to be mainstreamed into the Financial Audit of the Service; adding that the examination and contracts required under the Financial Administration Act had also not been undertaken. Also, physical infrastructural projects like roads, bridges and building had not had any performance audit review since performance audit was introduced into the Service in the year 2000. Other instances where performance audit had not been carried out are the Venture Capital Fund, Schools Feeding Programme and development programmes under the District Assemblies Common Fund.

Contributing to the statement, Mr Abdul-Rashid Pelpuo (NDC-Wa Central) said auditing was the heart of accountability, and it would be a shot in the foot of the Government not to adequately equip the Service so that the finances of the country would be left in safe hands. Mr P.C. Appiah-Ofori (NPP-Asikuma-Odoben-Brakwa) said corruption was the bane of the national economy in both the public and private sectors, adding that it behoved the state to take steps to check corruption and the abuse of power.

He said an amount of 350 Ghana cedis monthly salary to a Principal Auditor was rather on the low side and reiterated earlier calls for better remuneration in the Audit Service.

In a related development, Mr Jonathan Tackie-Komme, (NDC-Odododiodoo) in a statement drew the nation's attention to the negative impact of the influx of foreigners into the retail trade in the local markets.

Referring to a recent tour of some markets in the Odododiodoo Constituency, such as Makola, Okaishie, Katamanton, Agbogboloshie, Cowlane and Opera Square, Mr Tackie-Komme said foreigners had virtually taken over the retail trade.

He called for an amendment and speedy implementation of the Ghana Investment Promotion Centre Act that sought to increase the minimum foreign equity capital from US$300,000 to US$1,000,000 to save the Ghanaian trader from unfair competition by foreign counterparts on the local market. 14 Nov. 07